Tradition Gets Devil of a Test : Stanley Cup finals: Detroit has a storied past, but New Jersey has a tough defense.

When it comes to tradition, few NHL teams can top the Detroit Red Wings.

A glance at the banners in the rafters at Joe Louis Arena stirs memories of the great Gordie Howe, silver-haired left wing Alex Delvecchio and goaltender Terry Sawchuk, who dominated the NHL during their Hall of Fame careers. Joe Louis Arena echoes with the roar of standing-room-only crowds who carry on the ritual of octopus throwing, begun as a good-luck charm in the days it took only eight playoff victories to win the Stanley Cup.

The New Jersey Devils, who will play the Red Wings tonight in the opener of the Stanley Cup finals, have little tradition. Until this season, when they won their first conference title, they were best known for having been called “a Mickey Mouse organization” by Wayne Gretzky in 1983. They began their NHL life in 1974 as the Kansas City Scouts before hopscotching to Colorado and New Jersey--and might move to Nashville, Tenn., next season.

Despite their different histories, the Red Wings and Devils are very much alike. Both owe their success to sterling defensive play and to coaches schooled in the Montreal Canadiens’ organization.

Detroit’s Scotty Bowman won five Cup rings as coach of the Canadiens from 1971 to ’79 and added two more as an executive and coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s trying to become the first coach in NHL history to lead three clubs to Stanley Cup championships. New Jersey’s Jacques Lemaire played on eight Cup-winning teams in Montreal (five of them coached by Bowman) and his assistant, Larry Robinson, played on six Cup winners for the Canadiens.

“It’s always difficult for great players to get players to play the way that made them successful and to translate to them the coaching philosophy he has,” Bowman said. “Jacques has done a great job.”

Said Lemaire: “This is not a challenge for me against Scotty. I don’t think it would have more meaning to win against him. My wanting to win so much, that’s because of the guys on the Devil team. They work so hard.”

Playing a neutral-zone trap that resembles the system Bowman’s Canadiens used in the 1970s, the Devils stifled the Boston Bruins and Penguins in five games and eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers in six to win the Eastern Conference championship. Bruin right wing Cam Neely had two goals (Boston scored only five), Pittsburgh’s Jaromir Jagr, the NHL scoring champion, was shut out in the final three games and the Flyers’ “Legion of Doom” line was tamed by the rugged New Jersey defense, led by Scott Stevens.

The trap is built around one forechecking forward forcing the opposition’s puck carrier to the boards, cutting off his passing options. The other four Devils stay in the neutral zone to intercept passes and start counterattacks.

Defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov, traded to Detroit by New Jersey on April 3, called it “destroy hockey.” It has been effective for the Devils, who have goalie Martin Brodeur (1.65 goals-against average) to back them up.

“It’s a system that’s been around a long time, but it’s really a matter of guys wanting to do it,” Stevens said. “That’s why we’ve won, because we have people believing in it and who execute it.”

There’s more to the Devils than their trap. They’re hard-nosed and will jam the net more often than they’ll try to complete end-to-end rushes. Their right wings have produced 25 of their 51 postseason goals, including a playoff-high 11 from ex-Canadien Claude Lemieux.

The Red Wings, who won the Western title by defeating the Dallas Stars in five games, sweeping the San Jose Sharks and beating the Chicago Blackhawks in five games, hope they can break the Devils’ trap with quick passes and quick dashes up ice. Because the schedule was reconfigured after the lockout and teams played within their conference, they have not met since February 1994.

“The key for us is to be patient,” said Paul Coffey, a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman. “We’re aware Jersey is a very disciplined club and that they try to force other teams into mistakes and pounce on those mistakes.”

Lemaire wouldn’t say whether Stevens, who outmuscled Jagr and Flyer center Eric Lindros, will be assigned to shadow a Red Wing. If Lemaire chose that option, he’d still have to decide if Stevens should take on center Sergei Fedorov, Detroit’s top playoff scorer with four goals and 19 points, center Steve Yzerman, beefy forward Keith Primeau or right wing Dino Ciccarelli, tied with Vyacheslav Kozlov for the team goal-scoring lead with eight.

The Devils, who were 22-18-8, consider themselves the underdogs against the Red Wings, who were a league-best 33-11-4. “Maybe the attention puts pressure on the other end,” Lemaire said. “It’s not always good to hear people tell you that you’re great, especially when you have to work for it.”

The Red Wings, who haven’t won the Cup since 1955, are willing to work for it. “The first time I heard about the Stanley Cup was 1987, ‘88,” said Fedorov, who was born and raised in Russia. “It is as special now for me as for anyone else. To win it would be delicious.”